Agenda for Bengaluru MLAs

Divided by parties, united by city

Bengaluru's MLAs, together as a team, have to get the following things done first in order to strengthen the local governance, that is BBMP:

• Get a planning body for the city
• Get all agencies under BBMP
• Provide more powers to corporators
• Strengthen ward committees
• Devolve funds to ward committees
• Promote transparency - push for civic data in open data format
• Table and pass Active Mobility Bill

But their task doesn't stop here. The following are the most important areas where the MLAs should focus their energies in order to improve governance.

Fix fund flow to BBMP

MLAs have a duty to ensure Bengaluru receives a fair share of tax revenues. Bengaluru is the economic engine that powers not just Karnataka but the entire India. However, the city government, BBMP, depends heavily on property tax collection and hopes for extra discretionary funds from the state government for various development works. Every day, 2,000 new vehicles get registered in our city, but the city gets none of the taxes collected. Land registration, excise tax and fuel taxes go to the state government and not the city. Clearly, this is an outdated model that needs upgrading. The solution lies in reviving the defunct State Finance Commission which will not only help Bengaluru but all cities and villages strengthen their finances. The Central Finance Commission has been operating fairly autonomously and delivers a formula for the Centre and states to share tax collections. The SFC is supposed to do the same for cities, towns and villages within a state. Our MLAs must fight to make SFC functional and create a predictable model for the inflow of funds.

City Finance Commission?

There is a lack of an institutional mechanism to periodically record infrastructure gaps and use evidence from the ground as the basis for allocating funds to wards. Since the same amount of funds is given to core city wards as well as outer wards, the gap keeps widening as the population grows in the outer wards. If Bengaluru gets a City Finance Commission, it can measure the relative performance of wards and recommend a devolution formula for wards as well.

Affordable housing

Bengaluru is quickly becoming a city out of reach for ordinary citizens to live. Not everyone is an IT professional. Lakhs of daily wage workers and labourers live here. MLAs must work on creating affordable housing and rental housing by leveraging various schemes and creating a more inclusive city. Slums of Bengaluru need intervention and MLAs must study success stories from Odisha and other states that are upgrading infrastructure and giving land rights to slum dwellers. Congress manifesto mentions transit housing for migrant workers and the BJP manifesto promises 5 lakh homes for the urban poor.

Public health

Post Covid, Bengaluru made good progress towards decentralised public health care with PHCs and Namma Clinics in every ward. Over the next five years, our MLAs must ensure that everyone including the middle class is comfortable and confident in seeking medical help from PHCs. Anganwadis play a critical role in fighting malnutrition in infants and mothers and even in early childhood education. Investment in angandwadi is an investment in the future of the state. MLAs must ensure every anganwadi is renovated and modernised and more mini anganwadis setup especially where the migrant workers reside.

Public education

While BBMP runs many schools in our city, education is a state subject. MLAs must hold the Education Department accountable for improving the quality of infrastructure in every school and monitor if the funds are being utilised effectively. Year after year, the government spends thousands of crores on public education and yet most parents prefer to send their children to private schools that charge a bomb. Most NGOs and social organisations work in the education sector but their efforts do not seem well-coordinated. Recruitment of teachers is another area MLAs must raise in the Assembly.